The "negotiations" should start addressing the NHL Lock-out like this:
Treat the NHL like a restaurant. Both sides talk about expanding markets, and selling product, etc. In the restaurant world you do exactly that. Every restaurateur ventures the capital and takes all of the financial risks trying to get as many people through his door eating his food as he can. In order to do that he must have qualified staff, good marketing, and above all a good product at a fair price. If his staff is good they will reap the benefits based on their performance by way of tips over and above a base salary or wage. If they are bad then their tip-out will reflect that at the end of the night (in an ideal situation... not accounting for assholes). The better the product, the better the reputation, the more loyal patrons... unless no one in the area gives a shit about your food. Are you going to open "Fine Middle Eastern Dining" right next to the former WTC? Not if you have a brain. So if you did, then you would go out of business. Why then is the NHL trying to open franchises in places like the Carolinas, Arizona, South Florida (Cup champs aside), Atlanta (2-time losers), etc? And knowing that warmer climates do not beget grass roots support (because it is not a part of the local culture) why do the players still expect that they can be afforded the high wages? And constant expansion has watered-down the talent pool to the point where the product and the service is sub-par. Marketing? Well, merchandising is easy. Get a few rappers to wear your jerseys and they will be everywhere, but marketing "the game" may still be an issue because "the game" sucks in its current state.
So what do we do to counter this and try to save it? We don't. We let the NHL die. We dispose of the evil leaders of the league's board of governors and the player's union. We form a league, the right way. We offer performance based contracts and only allow franchises where there are proven hockey markets because, economic mock-ups aside, we are not selling food or any other product that people can be convinced to like. We are talking about a global sport that is popular world-wide. Some areas of the world don't give a shit about hockey and never will because it is not natural to their homeland. Are you going to pay good money to go see two teams of horsemen battle to drop a dead goat into a chalk circle? Not likely. It draws them in droves in Afghanistan. More realistically, are you going to pay good money to go see professional rugby, soccer, footy, hurling, sumo, etc? Not unless it is already engrained in your culture. The game is not for sale. The game is a part of national and regional fiber to many areas of the world. The true fans of the game find it quite insulting to constantly be told that their market is unimportant because the next market over is better. We don't need more revenue to pay players more money because it increases the talent level. We have proven that fat contracts do the opposite. If players want to get paid NBA, MLB or NFL money then go play those fucking sports because you are not really in it for the right reasons. Bottom line, hockey is hockey (just like any other sport is, at its essence, a sport) and there is much more enjoyable hockey out there if you really want to watch it. The greedy NHLPA and the stupid NHL are going to have to realize that soon enough. And when they do, and the smoke clears and fans realize what they have just been put through, the game had better be back to the level it should have been all along or nothing will bring it back.